For a gaming build, here's the big questions:- What's your monitor resolution?- Do you want to run with highest picture quality or is it ok to turn down some of the features (AA, AF, etc) in order to get decent fps?- What games do you play?- Is your goal to build once and then use it for a few years or is it to get a starter build now and upgrade when you have more $'s?

Things that you should post so people can give you better advise are, 1) What games do you play? and what resolution2) Whats your budget?3) Are you open to intel? or you want AMD?4) Where are you buying the components?5) Are you overclocking?

Thank you for all the answers.So the first thing that I have to change is the HDD to a caviar green.

I haven't said nothing about my gpu because I have made some research and I think that this HD7790 would be good for me, I know that it's not the most powerful product on the market but it's good enough, I'm just wondering if there is something with a similar price but quieter.

I want to play at full hd resolution with games like Bioshock Infinite, Batman Arkham City and maybe GTA 5, but I rarely play on my PC so i don't need something too powerful and I'm ok with turn down some feature or even play at a little lower resolution if necessary.

And I would like to buy a configuration now and don't have to change components for some years.

I choose an AMD just for the price and I don't think that I will overclock for some years but I want to be able to do that in the future if necessary. If you tell me that an Intel cpu would be a huge upgrade maybe I can think about it.

My budget was 600 euros( 800 usd ) but I decided to raise it a little and choose fractal design and thermallright macho instead of a cooler master k350 and stock cooler. In the italian online shop where I will buy the price is now about 670 euros. I don't know if I am allowed to link the site.My budget is now 700 euros.

I have looked for the two psu that you told me, the kingwin is not avaible and the bequiet seems like a really good product but the price is 120 euro when the XFX costs only 50 euros, there is some cheaper but good alternative?

Tell me if you need more information and thanks again for the help,Luca

I haven't said nothing about my gpu because I have made some research and I think that this HD7790 would be good for me, I know that it's not the most powerful product on the market but it's good enough, I'm just wondering if there is something with a similar price but quieter.

The GTX760 is slower though, but quieter. Check the reviews for the games you play,

Fangtsu wrote:

I choose an AMD just for the price and I don't think that I will overclock for some years but I want to be able to do that in the future if necessary. If you tell me that an Intel cpu would be a huge upgrade maybe I can think about it.

Well here if you want to stay with in your budget keep AMD. I just prefer Intel out of being more capable and efficient.

I suppose he could be italian, from his name: if that were true, the above quoted SuperFlower/beQuiet should cost up to three times the mentioned XFX Pro. Perhaps a bequiet E9 or a Super Flower XE could be more compatible with a low-to-mid budget, and even lowering the power level may help.

I don't know how those MSI sound like, but for a few percent less in performance one of the last ASUS GTX-660TI DC-II is one of the best sounding card out of the box, while if the performance of the quoted 7790 is enough, then a XFX FX-785A-CDBC is another enough quiet candidate (to be fair, I don't know the quoted 7790 DC-II: the cooler should be good, so it may actually be very quiet). Unfortunately all those above quoted card are more expensive than the ASUS 7790 (about 20-40% more): the only 110-130 euros video card (if Fangtsu were italian) I personally know to be very quiet at idle is the MSI N650-Ti PE OC 1Gb, but it should be a tad slower than the 7790, and it's pretty rare these days in Italy (I bought mine in Germany).

Abula wrote:

Fangtsu wrote:

HDD WD Caviar Blue 1TB

I would go with WD Green Cavair 1tb for more quiet storage drive.

Apart 1Tb may be not so future-proof, a WD Red could be also a viable and not so more expensive option.

Like someone has guessed earlier I'm italian, I can post the name of the online shop where I will buy if possibile and if it can be helpful for your advice.

Quote:

Perhaps a bequiet E9 or a Super Flower XE could be more compatible with a low-to-mid budget, and even lowering the power level may help.

The XFX 550W is priced at 48 euros while the bequiet E9 450W is priced at 69 euros and bequiet E9 400W at 60 euros. There isn't any 550W model in the site, is the bequiet E9 a good upgrade on the XFX 550W? On this site is avaible the Seasonic S12II-520 Bronze for 60 euros, it this a good quieter product?

Quote:

Apart 1Tb may be not so future-proof, a WD Red could be also a viable and not so more expensive option.

Which is quieter? The caviar green or the WD Red? The Red model costs about 10 euros more.

Quote:

while if the performance of the quoted 7790 is enough, then a XFX FX-785A-CDBC is another enough quiet candidate (to be fair, I don't know the quoted 7790 DC-II: the cooler should be good, so it may actually be very quiet).Unfortunately all those above quoted card are more expensive than the ASUS 7790 (about 20-40% more): the only 110-130 euros video card (if Fangtsu were italian) I personally know to be very quiet at idle is the MSI N650-Ti PE OC 1Gb, but it should be a tad slower than the 7790, and it's pretty rare these days in Italy (I bought mine in Germany).

Unfortunately I can't find the two models that were suggested on the online shop that I use, but I also hope that the Asus version can be quiet.

Quote:

Read the following reviews, TechPowerUp MSI R9 280X GAMING 3 GB (should be the same as 7790 just with the new cooler, the same as the GTX760) and MSI GTX 760 TwinFrozr Gaming 2 GB.

I'm going to read this review as soon as I send this reply, but when this card will be available? I'd prefer to buy my pc this month.

Your system as currently specified will use ~230W under stressed load conditions and under 200W while gaming.

PSU: The XFX model is a Seasonic S12 II design. An older, but solid design. The idle noise is decent, but not world class. As your gaming load is under 200W, the PSU's fan shouldn't ramp up to noticable levels.

The HD 7790 is a decent choice for mid-ranged 1080p gaming. You won't be able to run some games at Ultra quality levels, but, all the games listed would certainly be playable at mid to high quality levels. AMD released the re-badged products on Tuesday. The re-badged 7790 is the R7 260X. A tiny bit faster than the stock 7790 and priced a little lower for the 2GB version @ $139. Unfortunately they upped the TDP from 85W to 115W to do so and for all practically matters, most 7790's are stock overclocked already...and the 7790 comes bundled with a couple of free games <shrug>. The Asus version of the 7790 is pretty quiet.

AMD vs Intel: For most games, the hex core AMD FX chips are comparable to the dual core Intel i3's. So, that's how you ought to look at the economics of it - compare the FX 6300 + mobo to an i3 + mobo....which can be fairly similar with similarly featured mobos. For AMD, it's a limited upgrade path. Nothing today. They've been pushing a lot into their APU parts and not so much into pure CPU. There might be a new AM3+ compatible FX part next year...I just don't know. For Intel, the instant bump up is to an i5. It's all just tradeoffs.

SSD: Samsung Evo is faster than the Crucial M500 and might be priced better. If not the Evo, then look for the Samsung 840.

Your system as currently specified will use ~230W under stressed load conditions and under 200W while gaming.

Then I could buy a 450W Psu instead of a 550W, right? This change would have some impact on the noise?

Quote:

SSD: Samsung Evo is faster than the Crucial M500 and might be priced better. If not the Evo, then look for the Samsung 840.

In the online shop that I will use, where I have found the best prices in Italy by far, the crucial M500 costs 71 euros while the Samsung 840 Evo costs 87 euros. Is the Samsung much better?

Quote:

For AMD, it's a limited upgrade path. Nothing today. They've been pushing a lot into their APU parts and not so much into pure CPU. There might be a new AM3+ compatible FX part next year...I just don't know.

Just out of curiosity, this is not really relevant with this topic, but you seem really competent in this field so I have a question.You say that there is not an upgrade over the FX 6300 but in my research I have read that the FX 8320/8350 is a substantial upgrade and sometimes on par with the i5 in some games and with a lot of programs, you don't agree with this statement? I ask this because for a while I was thinking of buying the FX 8320 but then I decided to save some money. The FX 6300 costs 90 euros while the FX 8320 costs 130 and the cheaper models of i5 like 3350P costs 145 euros here where I will buy my PC.

Take a look at that AMD/Intel comparison link in my post. You get at best a 10% fps bump moving up to the octal core. You get up to 45% bump with an i5. Here's the thing: Most games just don't utilize more than 4 physical cores. So, it comes down to how effective each core is and how cpu-dependant the game is. Some games have a low threshold and nearly all cpus perform the same. Others scale linearly with clock speed.

Then I could buy a 450W Psu instead of a 550W, right? This change would have some impact on the noise?

You could buy a 450W PSU. You shouldn't see any difference in fan noise with your system as specified. If you ever upgrade the gfx card to a more powerful one, then the fan might start to ramp when gaming.

Like someone has guessed earlier I'm italian, I can post the name of the online shop where I will buy if possibile and if it can be helpful for your advice.

Well, steve preceded me on most arguments (SPCR and some other north american/canadian websites are often not responsive from Italy tonight), however, one of the most common problem with italian silencers (or wannabe so), IMO, it is their willing to spare on shipping charges buying from a single source, and if this is even your issue, I think you're wrong.

Anyway, as far as I know, unlike in many italian forums, here you can name any shop (something near Naples?).

Fangtsu wrote:

quest_for_silence wrote:

Perhaps a bequiet E9 or a Super Flower XE could be more compatible with a low-to-mid budget, and even lowering the power level may help.

The XFX 550W is priced at 48 euros while the bequiet E9 450W is priced at 69 euros and bequiet E9 400W at 60 euros. There isn't any 550W model in the site, is the bequiet E9 a good upgrade on the XFX 550W? On this site is avaible the Seasonic S12II-520 Bronze for 60 euros, it this a good quieter product?

As already said by steve, your load power level should be around 160-170w, the relevant benchmarking level around 200-220W. So why choosing a 550W PSU? To do what? Anything around 350-400W should be plentiful.

However, as steve said, the XFX and the Seasonic share the same Seasonic platform (maybe this is one of the reasons why XFX Pro-series are well considered in Italy), but indeed it's an old group-regulated design, with an aggressive temperature-based fan controller, so led towards reliability, as somewhat typical of the Seasonic's more budget-oriented lineup. Both the Seasonic and XFX units, while being reasonably quiet up to the 150W level, become clearly obtrusive above that mark and loud when the power is somewhere in between the 200 and 250W mark, and at any rate it ramps up when the intake approached the 30°C level: your proposed system is therefore borderline, strictly depending upon intake temperature (but the R4 case should help).

About the proposed alternatives, the E9 is a more modern design (a resonant design if I remember well), fairly more efficient (it's 80plus Gold vs. 80plus Bronze), and a better unit for the 12V line: above all it sports a better fan and it is quieter, certainly it's so at idle and low loads. The Super Flower XE is an even better design, still 80plus Gold, with better perfomance and much more quieter at any load.

Fangtsu wrote:

quest_for_silence wrote:

Apart 1Tb may be not so future-proof, a WD Red could be also a viable and not so more expensive option.

Which is quieter? The caviar green or the WD Red? The Red model costs about 10 euros more.

It would be nice if you could give a look to the well made SPCR reviews; however, the Red is certainly a better disk: the quieter 3.5" drive ever tested by SPCR, even if not dramatically quieter than a Green, and it is more reliable and noticeably faster than its cousin (the Green).

Just a note: if your concern actually is whether or not the Red were quieter, I suggest to you to put more care in choosing the parts than in choosing the shop.

Fangtsu wrote:

Unfortunately I can't find the two models that were suggested on the online shop that I use, but I also hope that the Asus version can be quiet.

I've already said twice about shops and parts, and as I don't know why you're stuck with that shop, I won't add anything more.

Fangtsu wrote:

I'm going to read this review as soon as I send this reply, but when this card will be available? I'd prefer to buy my pc this month.

Will the HD 7790 be the noisier component even when idle mode?

Uhm, no: probably it would be the CPU (I think you didn't choose any aftermarket heatsink) and then maybe the PSU.

At any rate, AFAIK the GTX 760 costs about two times the 7790, and it's currently available in Italy, while the R280X is still not available and it will be even more expensive (as it's a rebadged oc'ed 7970).

Fangtsu wrote:

Then I could buy a 450W Psu instead of a 550W, right? This change would have some impact on the noise?

It's rather difficult to say, it depends of the specific PSU model: take also note that AMD FX and Radeon 7790 are rather inefficient parts, so you could likely buy in the future some more energy efficient hardware, which may offer at same time better performances with the same PSU. But AFAIK with the XFX/Seasonic PSU you won't likely have any noise advantage to choose the 550W over the 450W unit, as they share the same fan controller and heatsinks.

Fangtsu wrote:

Quote:

SSD: Samsung Evo is faster than the Crucial M500 and might be priced better. If not the Evo, then look for the Samsung 840.

In the online shop that I will use, where I have found the best prices in Italy by far, the crucial M500 costs 71 euros while the Samsung 840 Evo costs 87 euros. Is the Samsung much better?

IMHO no, you won't notice any improvement (even if tne 840 is clearly better): probably the most "bang for bucks" currently comes with some SandForce drives, like the Kingston 300-series, Intel 330 or 335, or the SanDisk Ultra II-series (and personally I feel more comfortable with the old M4, rather than with the M500).

Fangtsu wrote:

CA_Steve wrote:

For AMD, it's a limited upgrade path. Nothing today. They've been pushing a lot into their APU parts and not so much into pure CPU. There might be a new AM3+ compatible FX part next year...I just don't know.

Just out of curiosity, this is not really relevant with this topic, but you seem really competent in this field so I have a question.You say that there is not an upgrade over the FX 6300 but in my research I have read that the FX 8320/8350 is a substantial upgrade and sometimes on par with the i5 in some games and with a lot of programs, you don't agree with this statement? I ask this because for a while I was thinking of buying the FX 8320 but then I decided to save some money. The FX 6300 costs 90 euros while the FX 8320 costs 130 and the cheaper models of i5 like 3350P costs 145 euros here where I will buy my PC.

I don't know what Steve will add, but IMHO, if the PC is for gaming, mostly depends upon resolution. At mid and low resolutions, the CPU power can affect very much the achievable framerate. While, at HD resolution and up, it's more important to choose a better graphics card than a better CPU: with an high end video card an FX 4300 would be maybe 10% slower than a Core i7, on average.

About the proposed alternatives, the E9 is a more modern design (a resonant design if I remember well), fairly more efficient (it's 80plus Gold vs. 80plus Bronze), and a better unit for the 12V line: above all it sports a better fan and it is quieter, certainly it's so at idle and low loads.

Then with my actual configuration the E9 400W would be a good solution, right?

Quote:

Just a note: if your concern actually is whether or not the Red were quieter, I suggest to you to put more care in choosing the parts than in choosing the shop.

I am really new to the idea of buying a quiet or silent pc so I'm still gathering informations. I have also been more focused on minimize the noise from the fans, I'm aware that the Hdd is one of the noisiest component in a pc but I haven't read anything specific yet. I really appreciate your help in these matters.

The shop where I am buying is qmaxtech.it and I'd prefer to buy here because the prices are lower than almost every other shop in Italy but especially because I have never assembled a PC myself and they can assemble a pc for you. Since you are italian can you suggest me some other sites where I can buy components with low prices?

Quote:

Uhm, no: probably it would be the CPU (I think you didn't choose any aftermarket heatsink) and then maybe the PSU.

Actually I intend to buy the Thermalright macho so I think that the noise from the cpu will be lower than most of the other components.If I buy the E9 instead of the XFX Pro and the caviar green/WD red instead of the caviar blue the noisiest component will now be the gpu?

Then with my actual configuration the E9 400W would be a good solution, right?

Yes, as I've already said a couple of posts ago, the E9-series is a good option (for the proposed rig): but if you go with the R4 case, check the PSU 8pin CPU power cable length, before buying both.

Fangtsu wrote:

I am really new to the idea of buying a quiet or silent pc so I'm still gathering informations. I have also been more focused on minimize the noise from the fans, I'm aware that the Hdd is one of the noisiest component in a pc but I haven't read anything specific yet. I really appreciate your help in these matters.

The shop where I am buying is qmaxtech.it and I'd prefer to buy here because the prices are lower than almost every other shop in Italy but especially because I have never assembled a PC myself and they can assemble a pc for you. Since you are italian can you suggest me some other sites where I can buy components with low prices?

If I were you (and I am not), I would use a somewhat different approach, starting from a basic concept: noise and performance are somehow antithetical requirements, and any cost always increases, if you want more quietness. Just a straight example: an average user would choose an hard disk drive relying on the basic parameters of capacity and speed. When I need a drive, I want it quiet: so at first I look to any suitable 5400rpm 2.5" drive (7200rpm ones are always audible due to the airborne noise), encapsulated in a Scythe enclosure (a QuietDrive or an Himuro), and then suspended with a Noise Magic NoVibes suspension system, softly mounted into a 5.25" bay (so I will look to a case which can have some convenient, solid 5.25" bays, and not for one with the more usual and blingy tool-less 3.5" removable trays).

This approach would lead to some constraints about the choice of the case, and to an increase of the overall cost of at least 30-40 euros with reference to the bare disk. If I should need a somewhat more performing disk (a 5400rpm 2.5" is sub-par), I would look for any higher than needed capacity, short stroked, suitable 3.5" 5400/5900 rpm drive, suspended in a NoVibes cage, and this would led again to an increase in costs of at least 30-40 euros (over a bare 7200rpm hard disk). But in either way, my peace of mind (and ears) comes definitely first.

Well, first of all, for a gaming rig I would start from your monitor resolution, as it's quite a different path building a rig for any "Full-HD" or above unit (or for a multi-monitor setup), which usually requires the most powerful graphic card you can afford, rather than for any "HD-ready-like" (1680x1050, 1600x900, 1440x900, 1360x768 and lower) one, which usually doesn't need such a card. So, to spend more on the GPU, or more on the CPU, mostly depends on that (and therefore, currently, the choice between AMD and Intel, as using lower resolutions monitors calls for an Intel, IMHO); it's also worth to mention that opting for a mid-class GPU (and a rather powerful CPU) could let you shrink more likely the form factor, if that were possible and desired. Anyway, whether financial concerns stood above any performance ones, as a very personal feeling, maybe an ASRock Z87 board mated with am Intel Pentium G3420 or G3430 CPU could turn out to be an interesting viable alternative for a budget gaming system, over the proposed FX4300 combo.

This preliminary decision will let you to estimate also your power and thermal requirements (today a GPU usually draws more electrical power than a CPU): and these latter will lead to the choices of PSU and enclosure. The inner, intrinsic quality of these two components IMHO should be as high as possible, as reliability and noise noticeably depends on that (not to mention you can upgrade the hardware but re-use case and PSU, if they are of an high quality): so it's not excessive to think about investing around 30% of the whole budget on these two parts, IMHO.

If a PSU is relatively straightforward to choose (a unit which matches the power requirements, which has a favourable noise profile within the intended power envelope, and eventually which fits the actual budget), choosing the enclosure may be a bit more tricky: a gamer case demands for GPU cooling, so it's usually wide open, with lots of intakes from which noise escapes, and lots of fans which make noise. A quiet case is quite the opposite: doors, hinges, almost no intakes, heavy panels, very poor cooling, all to trap the noise inside. But a too much low airflow could likely lead to an increased GPU fan speed, defeating the purposes for which you've chosen such an enclosure...

...to be practical without being hasty, the proposed R4 is one of the best "quiet", reasonably sized and reasonably priced, ATX mid-tower cases available, so, providing you will properly drive its fans, no question about (any hardware inside would run hotter than necessary, as in any "quiet" enclosure).

Then I would look to my favourite games, or the ones I would buy/lend near in the future: some titles are AMD-bound, other ones are Nvidia-friendly, but there are also very popular games which don't demand a very powerful graphic card. So you do need to perform some web searches, looking for any reviews which use those games to benchmark the various videocards (up to now it seems to me that someone just told you that the 7790 *is* the card you need, and no more), in order to try to identify which architecture (GeForce vs. Radeon), and which performance class (to say: a typical 7790 is way less performing than any R9 270X, but more than a typical GTX-650Ti, and so on) may be suitable for your gaming requirements. When you got at least a couple of viable alternatives, some more specific, noise related considerations (as the availability of a particularly quiet model) may then alter the above mentioned performance-based findings. Summarizing, this second-level analysis should tell you whether or not (and, in case, how) to change any previous made budget allocations (on CPU, GPU and case).

Just then I would start to select the actual, specific parts, looking for some alternatives for each component (namely two or three, maybe four, but no more).

If about CPU and GPU you should deal mostly with raw power and games requirements, motherboard is a different thing: a typical budget-conscious gamer would look for an essential mobo, with a good/reliable onboard cooling, a solid power circuitry, and maybe some fancies for overclocking. Otherwise a "silencer" should look for a sophisticated bios, with an high number of software controllable fan headers (which have to match the number and type of the available fans), and possibly some form of undervolting. Sometimes noise-wise the need for some specific motherboard features could led to change the hw architecture (Intel over AMD, FM2+ over Am3+, 1150 over 2011, or viceversa). The proposed M5A97 is a basic model, with no particular attractions/special features either for a silencer, or for you: it looks like a solid board, but it lacks programmable 3pin fan headers (the newer R2.0 version offers one more 4pin fan header, so this latter could be preferable but not mandatory, IMO, as your proposed rig doesn't have PWM case fans, and moreover the R4 sports aboard a fan controller, which may prove to suffice). Broadly speaking, in order to do your homework, you'd have to check online manuals, comparison tools and some trusted reviews to evaluate the various boards (while Intel, ASUS, MSI and ASRock are often regarded as the more silencer-friendly brands right now).

So, these proceedings leads me to say that tendentially I would not buy parts where they cost less, but where they have the ones I need: just at the end of such an identification process, I would try to maximize the purchases at the more affordable stores (as they may not have the right components).

Ending with qmaxtech, personally I've never bought from them, but I have friends which regard that shop as a serious one (just I would never let my system built by a third person, even if it were my first build, because only me know what I really want: but luckily you're not me, and above all I understand your worries, such as what to do, if it shouldn't power up properly, when you turned it on for the very first time). Take also note that, if qmaxtech were a painstaking seller, then they should not mount the HR-02 Macho on your system (as it's rather risky to ship such a cooler bolted to the mainboard), so that one of the probably most difficult tasks - when building a PC - should still remain up to you.

For any alternative to qmaxtech.it, price-wise, IMHO there could be so many (such as planethardware.eu, bpm power, and so on), that's nearly impossible to me to conveniently/effectively summarize: I usually rely upon price comparators. I'm used to check prices at the same time at least on trovaprezzi/shoppydoo, twenga.it and Google Shopping (take note that they do not always carry all the available offers), and very often I also check prices on several Amazon european sites (if you can pay by a credit card, and you're not worried about ordering in different languages). Yes, I know, it's a time consuming attitude...

Fangtsu wrote:

Actually I intend to buy the Thermalright macho so I think that the noise from the cpu will be lower than most of the other components.If I buy the E9 instead of the XFX Pro and the caviar green/WD red instead of the caviar blue the noisiest component will now be the gpu?

Your mileage may vary (idiomatic expression, somewhat mistreated: read it as "potrebbe essere così, ma anche no"): I don't know that ASUS card, I can't help, I just can say that the ASUS DC-II cooler proved to be relatively noisy on the 7950, while being very quiet on several GTX like the 660, 660Ti, and 670 (but not so quiet on the 680). And above all, up to now I still don't know whether or not, performance-wise, it's the right card for your gaming needs.

At any rate, according to TechPowerUp!, it should be a very quiet card (and if it were true, at least at idle the loudest parts could be... the 140mm fans! So, provide to drive them properly).

Is this now a good balance between performance and noiseness considering my budget of about 650 700 euros?

While I was searching for the PSU unit I have found another component, the "be quiet! Pure Power L8 CM 430W", which is preferable between this one and the E9 400W?

I have also another issue regarding the dimension of the Fractal Design R4 which is a little too big (it should be fine but a smaller one would be better), are there other solutions with performances similar with this one but smaller and possibly not more expensive? For example, what about the CM Silencio 550? With this particular case I would also have to change the cooler because it is a little too long, can you tell me a good one shorter than 154 mm?

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